dawnofbloodfandomcom-20200215-history
Dawn of Blood
Overview The first in the series of Dawn of Blood, the text-adventure introduced staples in Dawn of Blood such as Property Purchasing, Progressive Player Aging, Marriage, ability to produce children, and story-changing choices. A game ahead of its time, you could spend three hours doing the main quest, or constantly be improving your Dawn of Blood character's life, and their children's, for dozens of hours. Story Taking place in a broken Asitaar, the player's life has been turned to poverty. In an effort to change their life, they join a mercenary band. The game starts one year into their career, at the age of nineteen. When the player is kidnapped by an unknown faction with a great interest in the mystical world that has not yet been tapped by the world's society. The story kicks off, and the player is put into the first chapter/mission of the game. Mission 01 - Within Mystic Bricks The player awakes in an underground lair. Mostly a stealth adventure, the player also gains the opportunity to create their character. Narrowly or swiftly sneaking away from the fanatics, the player slowly unravels their plans and learns that Master Thargham seems to be a very high individual within this circle. Mission 02 - Tracking a Shadow After escaping, the player is free to do what they wish in the world at this point. But, they are still given the task to ask and track down Master Thargham. A quite open-ended objective. But the areas surrounding the cave where the player escaped from will have a higher yield of people knowing about the Master or the Mystical clan. Eventually, the player will come to know of two more people: Madam Eisguard and Doctor Yisifir. The Madam who has been linked to multiple silencings throughout the Confederacy of Asitaar. The Doctor is seen as a high prophet, but not a leader. Rumors say that the Doctor plans for the future of that Mystic group. Another piece of information leads the player towards Madam Eisguard. To Eisguard Manor. Mission 03 - The Madam If the player enters the Manor at any time, the mission will begin. The player must either sneak or kill all of Madam E.'s guards. The player goes to Madam E, and either through intimidation, persuasion, or looking through the collection of letters strewn across her house, the player will found out that the Mystic clan has a name: The Violet Shroud. Their interest in mystics is to cure an oncoming plague. But their magic has done horrid things. Bringing monsters and demons from dimensions unknown. Madam E. confessed to her ill-deeds. And admits that the Violet Shroud is ruthless, but she'd rather murder a few hundred than let a few thousand lie dead in the streets by an invisible enemy. She tells of Master Thargham's location. His lair, and warns the player of the dangers ahead. Madam Eisguard becomes an ally, and her mansion is available for the player to sleep in and recover inside of. She also becomes a romance choice for players. Not killing Madam E also boosts the player 5 missions. Skipping missions 4 through 4d. If the player does kill Madam E, the player will be perused by assassins that lead bread crumbs to Master Thargham. But this route takes much longer than if the player befriended Mada Eisguard. Mission 04 - Nebulous Leading The player hears word, or finds out for themselves, the location of a remote ruins. The player finds out that the Violet Shroud has been using this as a base of operations. But even after raiding it, no finds of the main leaders. Just more leads to more raiding Missions 04a-04d - Raids The next four missions are more of the same: raids. Until it leads to Mission 05, and the player confronts Master Thargham. Mission 05 - The Master '''If players allied with Madam Eisguard: '''Players are treated to a civil discussion inside of the Master's home. A very beautiful fortress. The player and the Master discuss a means of peace and for the player to halt any forms of communications with the Violet Shroud. The player (if they wish) to agree. This will cut the main campaign short, and all assassination attempts on the player's life will cease. But, most likely, the player will not cease their campaign against the Violet Shroud. If the player did not have a high enough charisma or said the wrong things, The Master will fight the player to the death in a professional duel. The first proper boss battle in Dawn of Blood. However, the player can talk The Master down. Doing this opens his fortress as a safe haven for the player, and the Master becomes an available romance option for the player. The Master will reveal the location of Doctor Yisifir. '''If players killed/did not ally with Madam Eisguard: '''Players will have to navigate the maze-like fortress to get to the Master. Or kill their way to him. Upon finding The Master, the player will have to kill The Master in the first proper boss fight. After the fight, the player will have to scrounge through the Master's items to find out the location of Doctor Yisifir. Mission 06 - The Purifier Either way the player got the information, the player will have to traverse past the Doctor's guards in her alchemist's fort. The Doctor very much dislikes the player, but when they meet two cases will occur: '''If the player allied BOTH The Master and The Madam: '''The Doctor agrees to assisting the player. Trusting in her colleges. Through a lot of determination, the player can romance the Doctor. '''If the player did not ally BOTH The Master and The Mada: '''The Doctor disagrees to assist the player, and fights to the death. After the encounter, the player has to return back to either The Master or The Madam. The one the player goes to warns the player of the upcoming doom of their demonic dealings and also of the plague. But, if the player did not ally with anyone, they come to that conclusion on their own. Mission 07 - Damage Report Starting at a random interval between 1 to 10 years after completing the 6th mission, it begins when the player enters any small town, village or hamlet. Low-level and a few moderate-level demons have taken over the village and are pillaging. The player defends the village, and their next objective is to figure out about the demonic sources. If the player is on the lone wolf playthrough (no allies), they'll have to come to their conclusions like asking the survivors or reviewing letters and papers by the leaders of the Violet Shroud Mission 08 - The First Portal After isolating the location of the first portal, the player goes into it. How to shut down the gate, however is unknown. Even with the player's allies, they do not know how to close it. The player will have to experiment. But after killing the Gate Guardian, the gate will shut on its own. Ending the mission. Mission 09 - Ground Zero A random encounter a year or two after completing Mission 8, the player comes to hear of an unknown sickness wiping out nearby hamlets and villages. The player will either be notified by their allies that they think that their plague X has had an outbreak. Or the player will come to their own conclusion. Knowing the small hamlets have been exposed, the player has two choices: Kill everyone in the villages, or escort all the villagers (exposing the player to illnesses) to a safe haven the player's allies have made previously to meeting the player. '''If Player has no Allies: '''The player must synthesize their own cure for the plague. This is the hardest part of the Lone Wolf playthrough. '''In 15-20 years: '''Without the cure synthesized, plague X will start going rampant throughout the world. The player will have to work hard to get a cure in time. Luckily for the player, on the world map plagued locations are covered in green. And the player will have thirty years to get a cure and supply the world with it or else the world will be engulfed in a world of illness and then die. Mission 10 - Invasion, First Stage Another year after Mission 9, words spreads of demons invading a large scale city in the world. The player must go to the city and help defend the city. After defending the city, the player will go into the second portal, and shut it down. Mission 11 - Unification The longest mission in the game. The player must unify all of the Asitaar states back into one kingdom. Characters with higher charisma will find this is an easier mission, but characters with lower charisma will still be able to meet even with the counts and countesses with doing small-time missions across the world. Mission 12 - Invasion, Second Stage After most leaders of the Asitaar States have been won over, they will band together one massed army. The player will lead the army into a rather large portal. A large-scale battle takes place inside the demonic world. The player must lead the army in a unique strategy-type battle that differs from the rest of the game's battle mechanics. And like with other portals, the player must close the gate. Mission 13 - Invasion, Final Stage After all of the Asitaar States have been unified, a mega-portal is summoned in the center of the world. The player will lead another army in a giant strategy-type battle that differs from the rest of the game's battles. This long battle will eventually lead in the final portal closing, and the game's main story ending. Note-Worthy Features Aging: The player will age. Every time they level-up (And the cap for gaining a level always stays the same), they age a single year. And for every year they age, they gain 0.1 Wisdom. For every 20 years they age, they lose 0.2 Strength. For every 30 years they age, they lose 1.2 Dexterity. However, the player's choices in their life (amount they drink, inflicted with the plague, etc.) can cap their maximum years of life. But if the player lead a completely healthy life, they can only live to be 120 years old before keening over and dying of old age. Romance: Not only being able to romance notable characters in the story, the player can romance any NPC in the game. But only in a monogamous relationships. Legacy: The player is able to create children with the boyfriend/husband/girlfriend/wife they choose. Although they can only produce one child. The child will also have their own interests, hobbies, friends, relationships, and be just as fleshed out as the player. Property Life: Being able to purchase and upgrade property throughout the world, and flipping or housing it is a welcome feature for making some quick coin. And also improves home life as you can upgrade every part of the house and improve life for your spouse and your child. Pre-Production The first game from Copper Software, it was an idea hatched from classic RPG ideals and also being able to impact the world. From Jane Hooper, founder of Copper Software says: "When we first started the Dawn of Blood games, we just wanted something that was as dynamic as hardware at the time would allow. And I think we both pushed it to the limit and got a pretty good product in the process." The idea of Dawn of Blood was started in 1981, but pre-production wasn't without problems. Over ambitious designers, including Jane Hooper, caused friction in the office. But in January of 1982, plans were settled. Production began a few weeks later and was smooth sailing from then on. Production Going according to plan, the team spent a net of $11k on the production of Dawn of Blood. From January of 1982 to February of 1984 was spent on programming, making art, and creating the game. January of 1984 is when marketing began. Marketing was outsourced to a small team of marketers that were semi-effective and cheap for the team that already exceeded their budget of $2k, and was bordering onto barely being in the black. Ever since March to May 1984 was spent on debugging and marketing as heavily as possible. This was also the time where the team was under the most stress, as with every month that passed, the team was closer and closer to getting into the red. And when the game was released the company had only $952 in the bank. Reception and Release The poor marketing done by the small team that was hired by Copper Software did not prove effective. Only 550 copies were sold in the first month of release. This gave the team $24.7k in raw income ($13.7k in profit). But, Copper Software had bigger ideas for Dawn of Blood, and other titles. It was going to cost more than $24k. Overall, Copper Software was extremely unhappy with the release, but when the year was over the company got ~$297k in raw income. Reviews for Dawn of Blood were non-existent. But the few people that were able to play Dawn of Blood only have fond memories of the game. But, it has been constantly revisited via online ROMs in the modern era to experience what the original was like.Category:Games